Killer injections: SC takes up case today to rectify omissions

 ISLAMABAD: He sought the attention of Senate besides demanding intervention of National Commission for Human Rights in vain before returning to the Supreme Court with documentary evidences to establish how deadly injections for cancer patients are being produced by Pinstech (Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology) and administered unchecked.

The apex court finally takes up this important petition of Riaz Pasha today, the whistle-blower scientist of Pinstech who will prove through documents and evidence that his department tempered with the record to secure a clean chit from the court when it previously took a suo moto notice on a story of The News in 2014 about this issue.

“Thousands of lives have  been lost in the aftermath of this deadly injection contaminated with undesirable radioactivity and rather amounts to fitting an atomic bomb into the human body with forthwith collapse resulting in failure of organs and the whole nervous and immunity system” well before determining whether a patient is suffering from the malady of cancer or not, Pasha argued in the petition.

Attached with the petitions are laboratory reports declaring the injections misfit for consumption as well as the audit report of Moody International Certification Group wherein the auditor pointed out serious problems and Pinstech’s reply to those objections through confirmation of this. However, this record was kept hidden from the apex court when the then chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani-led bench ordered inquiry in early 2014.

These killer injections, among others, are supplied to 14 hospitals run by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) for diagnosing cancers but the excess quantity of certain chemicals cause cancer instead of spotting it, he claims. This practice has been in progress since 2011 without any let-up. How many patients have died due to the administration of these injections is anybody’s guess as PAEC is reluctant to order an inquiry into this.

Pasha who oversaw quality control procedure of these injections as a principal scientist at Pinstech has been facing harassment during his last four years’ struggle to shake the conscience of the authorities by letting them that cancer patients are being administered killer injections.

He has mentioned in the petition about the harassment and threats “of removal from the scene” in case he remained persistent in pursuing the case. The petitioner has promised to provide undeniable evidence to prove that not a single test of the injections was performed and also the level of competence was not established with numerous defects and loopholes in the various processes.

Attached with the petitions are laboratory reports declaring the injections unfit for consumption and the audit report of Moody International Certification Group wherein the auditor pointed out serious problems that have been confirmed by Pinstech but were kept hidden from the apex court when Tassaduq Jillani-led bench ordered inquiry in early 2014.

The petition also discloses “numerous in-house meetings of the respondents (PAEC and Pinstech) with evidence, the petitioner had not only made respondents believe about the alarming situation but made them answerless as to the administrative mortality of the injection with evidence”.

His revelation is in contrast with the PAEC’s reply before the Tassaduq Jillani-led bench declaring that internal investigation has found no irregularity. At one time Pasha’s petition was dismissed, then he approached Justice (R) Ali Nawaz Chohan-led National Commission on Human Rights that failed to get satisfactory reply from the Health Ministry and PAEC despite repeated reminders. Then he submitted an application to the Senate, and the Upper House chairman referred the matter to the Standing Committee on Health Regulations that also put its hands up after some attempts and by declaring it a ‘sensitive matter’.

Left with no option, Pasha returned to the apex court to pray a review of the previous decision challenging that important facts were hidden from the court and its order of holding inquiry in consultation with the petitioner was not obeyed as he was kept out of the loop.